When the Philadelphia Eagles traded up for the number two pick in the NFL Draft, rumors began to swirl that Sam Bradford wouldn’t be the team’s starting quarterback week one. Once the Eagles drafted Carson Wentz second overall, it was all but certain Bradford wasn’t at least guaranteed the starting role.
Today, the Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich spoke with 94WIP Morning Show and talked about the starting quarterback situation.
“No, that’s probably not the right impression,” Reich said. “I’ve been around this business a long time as a player and as a coach, and one of the things I’ve really come to appreciate is it’s not a contradiction to say you’ve got to have order. Because if you don’t have order it’s chaos. So, if you’re the head coach you gotta come in and you’ve gotta establish order. There has to be organization, there has to be order, but the other thing that — as coaches — that you’ve got to establish is a culture of competition. This is one of the most competitive industries in the world and so, to say that there’s not competition, that’s just the furthest thing from the truth.”
Bradford will be paid $18 million by the Eagles this season, but that doesn’t guarantee him the starting job. In a league where you arguably need a top quarterback to win it all, Philadelphia will start who it believes gives it the best chance to win, just like every other NFL team.
The 2010 first overall pick by St. Louis played in 14 games for Philadelphia last season. He finished with 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions and averaged 266.07 passing yards per game.
Wentz meanwhile played in just eight games after he suffered a broken wrist early in the season. The quarterback finished with 17 touchdowns and four interceptions while averaging 206.4 yards per game. Wentz’s last full season was in 2014 when he played in 16 games and threw 25 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and averaged 194.4 yards per game.
Earlier this month, Bradford made it clear he knew this was most likely the case and reportedly asked for a trade. That didn’t sit well with other players in the league such as Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett.
“I listened to Sam Bradford again. I just almost threw up,” Bennett told ESPN 710 in Seattle, via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com. “I can’t believe Sam Bradford is complaining about making $40 million in the next two years, and because he actually has to compete for a position. This guy … this guy right here definitely sets a bad tone of what a player should be. If I was his teammate, how can you play with a guy that doesn’t want to compete at a high level and feels like his position should be solidified without even putting up the stats or the wins to back that up?”
No matter what ends up happening in Philadelphia, Bradford is in a much worse state than he was at the end of last season. Not just in terms of his job security, but also in his public image with fans and with fellow players.
